Swords and Swallows
by Dixxy Mouri
Summary: A Ronin Warriors cross-over. After a raging storm strikes El Nido, Serge and the others discover five young men have been brought to El Nido from a whole different world. But who brought them here? And how can they get back?
1. Prologue

Swords and Swallows

By Dixxy

Prologue

**Quick Author's Note:** The prologue, for those who have seen _Ronin Warriors_, might seem a little information heavy. That's because it's written for those unfamiliar with my other obsession so they know what's going on and who's who. Also, there isn't a whole lot of _Chrono Cross_ characters in the prologue as it's more of an introduction to RW for non-RW fans, but I promise you that chapter one puts us right in El Nido. Thanks!

_One thousand years ago, the Earth was invaded by an evil demon warrior with an armor of incredible strength and power. With his army of darkness, Lord Talpa attempted to take over the Mortal Realm and make it apart of his empire, the Dynasty. The people of the world tried valiantly to drive him back to the Nether Realm, but it was no use- he was too strong, and seemed as is all hope was lost._

_ But one day, an old man and a white tiger confronted the demon, the old man carrying a golden sword that made a clanging sound due to the eight rings it bore. Unbeknownst to Talpa, the sword was actually a magical staff that possessed an immense amount of power. The old man, known only as the Ancient One, used the sword to defeat the demon and drive him out of his armor- his only physical form, it would seem- and back into the Nether Realm._

_ However, even after every last demon had been driven back into the other world, Talpa's armor still remained in the Mortal World. Realizing that if Talpa ever regained control of the armor, the Ancient One split the armor into nine separate armors that represented the five elements of that world- Fire, Light, Water, Earth, and Wind- and the four seasons- Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. In addition to these elements, the armors were also blessed with human emotions- Perfect Virtue, Wisdom, Trust, Justice, Life, Loyalty, Serenity, Piety, and Obedience. He then hid the armor in hopes that none of their bearers would fall to Talpa's army, or, even worse, that none of them were seduced by his power and joined forces with him._

_ In a few hundred years, however, his fears became a reality- Talpa was able to convince four men who could use the seasonal armors joined the evil Dynasty in exchange for their souls and their mortality. These men became known as the Dark Warlords of Cruelty, Illusion, Venom, and Darkness._

_ The remaining five armors fell under no such spell and remained unscathed by bearers with weak minds and a hunger for power. The Armors of Wildfire, Halo, Torrent, Hardrock, and Strata became known as the five Ronin armors, their bearers known as the Ronin Warriors._

(Ryo)

"Junk."

DELETE

"Spam."

DELETE

"Junk again."

DELETE

I sighed, looking through my WAY over-crowded e-mail account. Nothing but "business offers" and "special offers" seemed to get into my in-box, and that didn't exactly please me. I wouldn't mind some jokes or friendly letters from my friends, or one of the mailing lists I'd subscribed to. But all I seemed to be doing was cleaning the junk mail to make room for more.

Finally, seeing that I had no more new messages, much less any from my friends, I logged off and shut the computer down, gritting my teeth in mild frustration. I hadn't heard from any of my friends in what felt like a millennia, and all I wanted was at least some sign of life from ANY of them!

I got up out of the computer chair, stretched, and went to look for my soccer ball. I could go into my room and bounce it off the top of my head for a few hours, or until I got a headache. Whichever came first- usually the headache. With that, I plodded out of the computer lab and towards my room.

"Ryo?"

I stopped and slowly looked towards Mia, who was just coming up the stairs. "Oh. Hi Mia," I said with mild interest. I yawned and leaned up against the wall, resting my head on my shoulder and a crossed my arms. "What's up? Yuli and I haven't seen you all day today."

"I've been busy at the University, that's all," she said. "You?"

I shrugged. "Just seemed if one of the other e-mailed me," I said.

"Why don't you just call them?" asked Mia.

I snorted. "Requires picking up the phone and dialing numbers- too much work."

"Yet you don't mind booting up a computer, waiting for it to load, waiting to log on to the Internet, then logging into your e-mail box AND sifting through all that junk mail you seem to accumulate?" Mia asked, raising her trademark Skeptical Eyebrow at me as I had- yet again- said something that defied logic. I only grinned in response.

"Yup- I don't have to use my voice and I can take all the time I want to think about what I'm going to say," I said, moving off the wall. Mia rolled her eyes at me and pretended to smack me upside my head. I grinned in response, playing blocking her. Mia knew she'd never be able to get even close to hitting me.

I AM, after all, a Ronin Warrior.

To those who don't know me so well, like the teachers at school or my boss at the comic store I work in, I'm just Ryo Sanada. I'm a junior in high senior in high school, I love soccer, and I live just outside of Toyama with a college professor and another orphaned boy, Yuli.

To my close friends and to my enemies, I am called Ryo of the Wildfire. I draw my strength from the heat of fires and the magma of volcanoes, and I draw my spirit from the virtue Jin, which means "perfect virtue". With my armor and my katanas, nothing stands in my way, especially if I have the assistance of my friends. The power of the five Ronin Warriors is a force to be reckoned with- hey, I've been told than even ONE of us can be a handful. Well, at least that's what Mia tells me.

Mia Koji is one of our friends. She isn't a Ronin Warrior- hell, she doesn't have any powers aside from the ability to go from zero to Wicked Witch of the West in under two seconds- but she's an invaluable asset to our team. Her grandfather was a man named Dr. Koji who spent much of his life gathering information on our armors. He was killed by one of the Dark Warlords, but gave Mia a vital clue as to how to access his carefully encrypted research. Since then she's been deciphering his work to try and learn more about the armors so she can tell us about them when she isn't working at the University of Toyama.

"Anyways, I came up here to tell you dinner's ready," she said.

I raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you just get home?"

"I picked up pizza on the way home from the University- if you don't hurry, Yuli and White Blaze will eat everything before you even get a chance to smell it," she warned. "I know, I know, you don't want White Blaze eating human food, but tell that to the cat- I promise you he won't listen, and neither will Yuli."

"How true," I muttered as I started down the stairs. White Blaze is "my" tiger, though he probably sees me as "his" human. He seems to have some sort of a strange connection to the armors and the Ancient One, but what it is we aren't exactly sure. He fights alongside us whenever trouble is near and gets protective of any civilians, like Mia and Yuli, who happen to be around at the time. He even died protecting us when we were fighting against a Dynasty lord named Lord Saberstryke and his tiger, Black Blaze. When Saberstryke was defeated, Black Blaze fused himself with White Blaze and now the two tigers are one, though I'm fairly certain White Blaze is "in charge" outside of battle.

Yuli is the last person currently living in the Koji household. Yuli's parents disappeared during our first bought with the Dynasty and we haven't been able to find out what happened to them. Since he's just a kid and doesn't have any other family he knows about, he's been living with Mia. Even after all this time, he's still holding onto the idea that his parents are somewhere looking for him like he's looking for them.

Not to my surprise, I found Yuli sitting at the dinning room table with White Blaze sitting on the floor beside the boy's chair. From the orange on the white fur around Blaze's face, I had a gut feeling Yuli had given him a piece. I rolled my eyes, pulled out another chair, and took a plate. "I hope the two of you saved some pizza for us," I said.

"There's still two more boxes- Mia bought a lot of pizza," said Yuli.

"That doesn't mean we have to eat it all- we can have some at another time," she said, sliding into the chair next to time. "So, tell me, how was your day? You two weren't too bored, were you? Or did you kill each other behind my back and resurrect yourselves before I got home?"

"I went outside for a little bit," I said.

"Sage called," Yuli said.

I nearly got to my feet. "Sage called? What did he want?" I asked, suddenly excited.

"He just wanted to say hello and see how you were doing, that's all," said Yuli. He reached for one of the pizza boxes and began to tear a piece from its pie. "But you were out and I couldn't find you, so I hung up. I didn't even know you were home already or I would've told you by now."

Sage Date, or Sage of the Halo, is one of the other Ronin Warriors. His powers derive from light, thunder, and Chi, which means "Wisdom". True to his name and virtue, most of what Sage says is well-thought out and rarely stupid. He's also much more formal and traditional than the rest of us, having been born into a family that owns a very prestigious dojo. Still, even Sage has his "wild" side. He's somewhat vain when it comes to his hair and loves fast cars.

"Well. . . have you heard from Rowen, Cye, or Kento?" asked Mia.

"Not a word, unless Sage said something," I said.

"He did. He ran into Rowen a week ago in Tokyo, and his family had dinner at Kento's family's restaurant- in fact, Cye was their waiter and saw Kento get into a fist fight with one of the customers," said Yuli. He laughed. "Sage said that eventually this tiny Chinese woman came out and started smacking the customer with her frying pan and did more harm than Kento."

"Wait, wait, let me guess- that was Kento's mom beating that guy, right?" I said. A pause, and then Yuli nodded with a wide grin on his face. I burst out laughing at the image. Mia rolled her eyes at us and quietly bit into her pizza, shaking her head at the two of us.

Rowen, Cye, and Kento are the other three Ronin Warriors. Rowen Hashiba is the warrior of Strata and controls the element of air. Aside from that, there's no "one way" to really explain the guy. He (says he) is a genius, yet I'm convinced Hell will freeze over before he can put a cheese sandwich together without damaging something. He also has a habit of sleeping in really late because of his late hours and can be very dangerous if he doesn't want to wake up (for someone who's half asleep, he's got GREAT aim). Rowen tends to be a loner from time to time- this is because his parents are divorced. More so, neither one of them has a job that allows for a lot of free time with their son- his father is a scientist who lives in his lab and his mother is a reporter who's almost always traveling.

Kento Rei Fuang is the Ronin of Earth, controlling the Armor of the Hardrock. He's got more brute strength then you can shake a stick at (I've seen his throw boulders bigger than him) and an appetite to match it. Out of the five of us he's got the largest family (he's the oldest of five children) and probably the best people-person. Kento enjoys fighting more than the rest of us and has the tendency to rush into one without thinking. This results in either A) getting himself hurt B) getting someone else hurt or C) both A and B. He's getting. . . um. . . kinda better about that. He's got a GREAT head for business- his parents run a successful restaurant, so he's grown up around most of the aspects of it.

Cye Mouri is the last member of our Mutant Boy Scout Troop with the Armor of the Torrent, the armor of water. Unlike the rest of us, he isn't a citizen of Japan, natural born or naturalized (Kento and his parents came from China- his siblings were all born in Japan)- he's an exchange student from England. He's a lot like the ocean- normally, he's pretty relaxed and laid back. But once you get him riled up, he gets rather dangerous. He's currently living with Kento's family and works part time at their restaurant. Hence why he and Kento are the only ones who don't have to bum money of our parent(s) or Mia- they have jobs, the rest of us don't.

Dinner continued as it normally did. Various topics came up ranging from movies we wanted to see as a group and odd occurrences (such as this rock Yuli found that had a startling resemblance to a frog). It started off a very normal, boring, and rather uneventful dinner.

And then the noise started.

I held up my hand during the middle of Mia's story about the janitor at the University when I heard it. "Shh- quiet," I said. Mia, Yuli, and White Blaze all quieted. I stood, White Blaze getting up and silently slinking over to me. I narrowed my eyes as my ears picked up the faint wind-like sound, only deeper and somewhat animalistic. "There's something in the house."

I took a few steps away from my chair, my eyes darting across the room as I searched for the source of the sound. Much to my dismay, I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Whatever it was, it was good at hiding. But I didn't feel like playing Hide and Seek. "Come on!" I said. "Show yourself! I'm not afraid of you!"

**_You will be, Ronin._**

And then everything was covered in shadows.

(Serge)

"Well, looks like going out now is out of the question," my mother commented as she glanced outside the window. She turned to me and Kid, a cumbersome look on her face. "I haven't seen a storm this bad since the one fifteen years ago. I certainly hope no one's out in that storm."

"Aw, don't worry about it, Marge- any sailor worth his boat turned back once they say first sight of this monster," Kid said, leaning back in her chair. "Thank for letting me stay the night, though. It's nice to know I've got some mates down here in Arni- going through the valley to get back to Termina in this weather is suicide."

"No kidding- I wouldn't even dare trying to get to even Leena's house, and she's right next door," I said, watching the rain with interest. It was almost like our house was under a waterfall with a never-ending source feeding it. No doubt the ground was wet outside, and there was no doubt that Poshul and the children would be outside the following morning splashing around in the mud. Kid, too, for that matter.

A crack of lightening split across the sky. Kid yelped in surprise, successfully jumping a good foot off her chair. Apon landing, the furniture toppled over and Kid was lying clueless on the floor. My mother and I rushed to help her up. My friend said an absent "thank you" as she shook her head, trying to get her wits about her again.

"Are you all right?"  
"I'm fine- the lightening just startled me, that's all," Kid said, rubbing the back of her head. She looked out the window as another bolt ravaged the land. Her cerulean eyes blinked as she walked over to the window and studied it for a minute. "Something about this lightening don't feel right."

Confused, I joined her at the window and watched as a few more struck. I turned to Kid with a skeptical look. "I don't see your point, Kid. It looks pretty normal to me- it's loud and makes a bright flash across the sky- all lightening does that. What makes this storm so different?" I said.

"I didn't say it LOOKED or HEARD different- but SOMETHING ain't right about it," said Kid. She looked down at her Astral Amulet, clutching her hand around the ancient gemstone. "Something's going on and I know I'm not just imagining things, mate." Slowly, she released her grip on the pendant and put her hands on her knees.

The amulet then began to glow.

"Uh, Kid?" I said. Kid didn't look up at me, took busy staring at the piece of jewelry with wide eyes. Even my mother was interested in what was going on. "I'm starting to think you're right about something being up. Whenever that thing glows it NEVER means something normal."

"You know what this means, mate," she said, getting to her feet. Kid struck a dramatic pose, pointing in the general direction of the place where angels loose their way with a determined look in her eyes. "Grab the Mastermune, some elements, and yer rain gear because guess what? We're going to Opassa Beach!"


	2. Chapter One

Swords and Swallows

By Dixxy

Chapter One: Storms' A Brewing

(Kid)

So Marge wasn't too thrilled with Serge and me trekking out in that monster of a storm. Tough cookies. Something was going on and I'd be damned if I didn't check it out. Serge, naturally, saw no point in trying to argue with me over the point and followed without question. But then of course he isn't blind and knew damn well that something was screwy with my amulet. It doesn't glow just for the heck of it- it glows when something is going on. End of story.

So the two of us were making our way through Lizard Rock. The good news was that the Beach Bums, Sand Squirts, and Komodos were all taking shelter from the rain so we didn't have to deal with any of them. That bad news was that the rocks were now VERY slippery, it was kind of dark, and the rain wasn't helping our vision very much. Serge was leading the way, using the Mastermune as a sort-of guide stick and extra support, bracing against it whenever we crossed a particularly bad spot. Both of us had taken a fair number of spills, covering us both head to toe in mud and, judging from the smell coming from us, a few piles of monster crap as well.

Needless to say it was a pretty miserable experience. Serge's hair and bandanna were both plastered to his head, and he was almost constantly moving the offensive blue locks from his eyes. For me, it was the mud. Now I'm not a neat freak, but I don't like being so dirty and disgusting. Sure when I was a little kid (pun not intended) I used to make mud pies and tried to serve them to Lucca, but even then I wouldn't get dirty to the point that I was unrecognizable.

At least the rain was washing some of the mud off.

But onward we went, and finally we reached the end of Lizard Rock. From there is was mostly sand and mud, so slipping was no longer a real issue. Sadly, getting stuck and sinking into deep puddles was. Even with Serge checking puddle depths with the Mastermune (Masa, Mune, and Doreen were probably pitching a fit) we still had to stop a few times to pull each other out of the muck. Serge lost both of his shoes during one such occasion- the mud refused to give them up. I took note of some landmarks in the area and promised him we'd come back with some shovels once the weather eased up a bit.

After a good hour of walking, we finally ended up on Opassa Beach. By that time it was probably close to midnight, if not after. If it weren't for the moons we wouldn't have had much to see. Serge, however, manipulated a Photon Ray so it acted like a flashlight. For the most part, we didn't see much.

Rocks.

Water.

Coral.

Water.

Sand.

Water.

Someone lying belly down in the sand.

Water-

"Hey!" Serge said, pointing at the said person. The two of us rushed over and knelt down to get a better look at the person. Serge put the Photon Ray down but didn't shut its light off- he then began to search for some sort of a healing Element while I began to check for signs of life on the mysterious stranger.

The person in question was a male around our age. He had deep black hair slightly longer than shoulder length and very nice eyelashes. His clothing consisted of a heavy red shirt and strange blue pants made of a sort of course, yet smooth material. Both of these materials stuck to his skin from the rain and I was sure that it couldn't be comfortable. I could sense that he was, like me, a Red innate, but somehow there seemed to be. . . something else. What it was I wasn't sure (and the Schala half of me didn't know what it was either), but it wasn't important. He was unconscious, but after checking for a pulse, I determined that he was alive. That meant Serge and I had to help him.

"I got a Revive- do you think we need it?" Serge asked.

"Try it, see what happens," I said. Serge nodded, casting the element. A white glow appeared above the youth's head, then faded. I bit my bottom lip in anticipation. Was this something a Revive would work on? After all, he might not necessarily be on the brink of death- he could just be unconscious.

Much to my relief I saw his eyelashes begin to twitch.

"Good move, mate- I think he's waking up," I said.

Slowly, but surely, the stranger began to wake up. Clumsily he started to move, bracing himself against his hand as he tried to sit up. Without hesitation Serge gave the dark-haired boy assistance, giving him a concerned look as the boy began to cough, clutching his chest. "Hey, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Once the stranger stopped coughing, he looked up at Serge in curiosity. Large, tiger blue eyes stared at my friend in curiosity. Serge only gave him a reassuring smile in exchange for the look and a friendly hand on the shoulder. "Uh. . . I guess so. My head hurts a little and I feel kind of dizzy, but I think I'll be all right."

"Well that's good," I said. The boy turned to look at me, then looked back at Serge. When he turned his gaze back to me, I held out my hand. "Hi. I'm Kid. That's Serge. Who're you and why were you taking a nap on the beach in the middle of this storm?"

"What?" he said, seeming to wake up a lot more than he had been. "Where am I?" Awkwardly (yet very quickly) he got to his feet and began looking around. "Mia? Yuli? White Blaze? Are you guys okay? Mi- WHOA!" A few badly timed steps sent the stranger back into the sand. A spitting sound a second later told us he'd gotten some of the stuff in his mouth.

Serge got to the stranger's side and helped him back to his feet, putting one of his arms around the youth's shoulder. "Whoa, hold on there a second- you're in no shape to be running around in weather like this." Serge turned to me. "Kid, get him back to Arni- from the sounds of it there were other people with him, and the Revive didn't work as well as it should have. I'm going to see if I can find anybody else. Can you make it back on your own?"

"What about you, Serge? The weather's nutty right now and I-"

"Kid, please- I'll be find. If I can handle a super-computer turned goddess, a fused Dragon God and Lavos then I think I can check a beach for people. And I'm not alone- Masa, Mune, and Doreen can reach you through your amulet if something goes screwy. If you have to send someone out to go find me- I'm sure Poshul, Leena, or Radius wouldn't mind the trip," he said.

I frowned, then took the stranger. "All right, mate, but if you go and get hurt, I'll kick yer arse so hard you'll kill the moons- you hear me?" I threatened. Serge gave me an acknowledging grin before jogging off towards another end of the beach, leaving me with the stranger.

"What's happening?" he asked.

"C'mon, you- the faster we get you back to Arni the better off you'll be," I said.

By the time we reached Arni an hour and a half later, I saw a pair of silhouettes waiting for us at the village gates. I still didn't know who it was I was helping along (he was saving all his breath for the very difficult journey we were making, as I was) and I was beginning to wonder if he's fallen unconscious again. Still, the gates were in sight and if my imagination wasn't playing tricks on me, those silhouettes were people who might want to help.

"Kid! Serge!" One of the figures began to run closer. "Are you two all right!"

"Sorry, Leena- this ain't Serge," I said. Leena was soon facing me, her eyes wide with worry and her hair just as wet as I was. "We sensed something was screwy and decided to check out Opassa Beach- we found this guy passed out there and when he woke up he started calling for some other people- Serge is there now trying to find them." Without question, Leena took the other side of the stranger and we both headed towards the other silhouette. From walking staff, I guessed it was Radius.

Slowly, the former Deva began to walk up towards us. He looked over the stranger, who raised his head to stare almost absently at the chief. Radius' thick eyebrows raised in surprise. "Get him into my hut- quickly. This poor boy's been through quite a bit and I think that some warm stew and a few dry blankets will do him some good." Leena and I didn't question the order and followed Radius into his hut.

I relayed the brief details of the journey to Radius and Leena as we entered his hut. We laid him down on a cot, stuck a pillow behind his head, and let the village chief cover him in a blanket. The youth shuddered, but unconsciously pulled the garment tighter around himself. Satisfied that he'd be all right, I was given another blanket so I could dry off and the three of us sat down to have a talk about the dark haired stranger.

"Where do you think he came from, Radius?" asked Leena.

"No telling. Could be some new fashion statement amongst the young ones in Termina. Could be an actor in costume. Or, considering it was Opassa Beach this young one washed up on. . . there's no telling were he could be from," said Radius. He glanced over at the young man and scratched his chin. "I wouldn't hesitate to say there's a chance he's from some other world."

"Radius, I know that we've encountered other worlds before, but. . . are you so sure about that?" asked Leena. She sat back in her chair, looking at the village chief in worry. "Even with the mess with Schala and the alternate realities, don't you think it's a bit quick to jump to that kind of a conclusion?"

"I would," I said, glancing down at the ancient pendant that hung around my neck. I grasped it with my hand, letting it rest in my palm. It glistened in the light from Radius' torch briefly, but showed no other sign of unusual activity. "My amulet was glowing, and it doesn't glow for the hell of it, Leena- there's no such thing as a false alarm here."

"And don't forget that storm going on outside," said Radius. He looked out the window and narrowed his eyes. "Speaking of whom, I certainly hope Serge is all right out there. Chrono Trigger or no Chrono Trigger, that's no peaceful sprinkle- if he's not careful, he could get hurt."

"I wouldn't worry too much- he's got some healing elements on hand and the Mastermune. Besides, if something happened then one of the spirits inside would contact me through the amulet and we'd go rescue him," I said. I grinned. "Leena, I KNOW you've been itching for an adventure. Radius? Use yer age an as an excuse and I'll kick yer arse so hard ye'll kiss the moons, because guess what? You're no pushover."

"And you?" Leena asked.

I playfully blew at my fingernails and grinned. "As much as I've love to talk about how great and wonderful I am, I think I'll pass this time." This elicited annoyed groans from Leena and Radius alike. I smiled cheerfully. "Oh, come on now, mates- if you thought I was going to say anything different then you should be ashamed of yerselves. I'd like to think you knew me better than that!"

Leena snorted. "Don't worry- we do."

The sounds of heavy breathing and a pounding on the door announced someone's entrance. I quickly got to my feet and raced to the door, thinking it was Serge wanting to come inside from the rain. Sure enough, I was immediately greeted by a waterlogged and sock-footed Assassin of Time. Serge was breathing heavily, blowing dripping water off his lips and it dripped down his face.

"Kid. . . where's Kid?" he asked.

"Serge? Mate? I'm right here," I said.

Serge shook his head, spraying water everywhere. I shrieked as the water struck me and glared daggers at my friend as he looked at me in a mix of surprise and relief. Despite my Look of Death, he grinned and gave me a hug. "I'm glad you're okay, Kid- I got worried when Mom said you weren't home yet. But why are you here at Radius' hut?"

"We're taking care of that stranger you two found," Leena explained. "He's asleep right now, but we're hoping he'll wake up soon so he can tell us what's going on." She looked at Serge, cocked her head to one side, and raised an eyebrow. "Um, Serge? Why aren't you wearing shoes?"

"Because they're stuck in the mud somewhere between here and Opassa Beach," he said dryly and he accepted a dry blanket from Radius. He joined the rest of us at the table. Radius' cook brought in a tray with a tea kettle, three cups, and a plate of cookies. Apon seeing Serge, she politely smiled and went to retrieve another cup.

"So, what did you find?" Leena asked, pouring herself a cup of the tea.

"Nothing but sand and rocks," he said. He gave us an irritated grunt and rubbed at his temples, crossing his legs so one foot rested on his knees as he leaned his head back. "I just KNOW that there's something weird about that guy, and it's aggravating me that we don't know what it is."

"Well. . . there's a chance he may not be from this world," said Radius. He cleared his throat and picked up a teacup. "After all, he was found on Opassa Beach and we're all quite aware that something about that beach is abnormal. Since that is the case we need to either take extreme caution or try to help him get back home."

"I say we help him get back home- I don't think he's dangerous," I said, leaning back in my chair. "He just seems worried about his mates. And I think he's almost in the same situation Serge was in last year, save the whole Lynx-FATE-Dragon God mess. Of course he's probably got his own mess of problems to deal with."

"Ooo. . ."

We all stopped short to turn to where the stranger was. He was slowly sitting himself up, staring groggily at his pillow. We all started to stand, but Radius silently ordered us to stay put while he went to talk with the young man in our care. Using his walking stick, Radius made his way over to the boy, who was now looking at him in a much more awake and aware manner.

"Hello," Radius greeted politely, sitting down on a stool nearby.

"Um. . . hello," the boy said. He looked around the hut, eventually resting his eyes on Radius. "Where am I? And how did I get here?" He swung his legs over the side of the cot. Radius held up a hand and shook his head. The boy nodded, not making any further motion to stand.

"You are in Arni, a small fishing village on the main island of the El Nido Archipelago. I am Radius, the chief of Arni and this is my home," he said. He gestured to the rest of us. "The youths to my right are Serge, Kid, and Leena. Serge and Kid found you on Opassa Beach and brought you back here."

The boy smiled weakly. "Thank you, but. . . none of those places are ringing any bells," he said. He turned to Radius. "Mr. Radius, um, sir, can you tell me some of the surrounding countries? I've never heard of this. . . El Nido Archipelago before in my entire life."

"Well, there's always Porre, Choras, and Medina," Serge offered.

The boy shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, I've never heard of those countries either."

I snorted. "You really AREN'T from around here, are you?" I said. "I can understand someone not knowing where El Nido is, but PORRE? They're only one of the most fearsome military super powers this world has ever SEEN!" I coughed. "I'm sorry about that last outburst- I'm not trying to belittle you, but you most certainly aren't from around here."

"I won't hesitate to agree," the boy said, looking out the window. He turned back to us, a thoughtful look on his face. "My name is Ryo. I remember you and Serge from the beach, but before that. . . I'm not sure how I got there. One minute I was eating dinner with my friends, and the next everything is suddenly swallowed up by shadows."

"Swallowed by shadows?" Leena asked.

"Yeah," Ryo said, leaning against the wall behind him after checking to make sure there wasn't anything behind him. "You know how shadows can grow or shrink when the source of light moves? It was like that, only really fast and really large. After that I don't remember anything except for waking up on that beach."

"Speaking of your friends, I didn't find anyone aside from you," said Serge. He looked somewhat ashamed of himself as he looked at Ryo. "I'm sorry, but between the darkness of the hour and all the rain I could barely see two feet infront of me. But I tried as best as I could!"

Ryo sighed, then shook his head. "Don't worry about it- not your fault this happened. At least, I don't think it is- you don't seem like the kind of person who would send shadows to attack people," he said with a slight smile on his face. "But what happened? Who sent those shadows and who brought me here?"

"That's a good question, and I'm sure that investigating that won't be a bad idea," said Radius. He stood. "Your best bet would be to take a boat to Guldove and talk with shrine maidens- preferably Steena or Direa. You may check the beach for signs of your friends first if you wish, but I would HIGHLY suggest consulting the shrine maidens."

"We had an. . . incident. . . with other worlds about a year ago and the shrine maidens are a good place to start asking questions," said Serge. He cleared his throat. "It's a long story, but let's just say there were two alternate realities and I was the key to traveling between the two. They've since been merged into one world- this world- but this kind of thing is no stranger to us."

"Ironically enough the center of it all was Opassa Beach- where we found you. It's often been called the place 'Where Angels Loose Their Way', but it was the site of two dimensional vortexes. One was a bridge between the two worlds, and the other was a direct trip into the time stream where a young lady named Schala was being held prisoner," said Leena.

"We'll give you the details later- for now you need to get some rest," said Radius. He placed a hand on Serge's shoulder and smiled kindly at him. "Lie down and get some sleep- I'll give you some more appropriate clothing in the morning. The clothing you're in now isn't exactly common around here and we don't want you sticking out too much."

Ryo smiled sheepishly. "You really don't have to do all this," he said.

Radius laughed. "That's what you think- now sit down, shut up, and get some sleep."

"Yessir!"


	3. Chapter Two

Swords and Swallows

By Dixxy

Chapter Two: Welcome to El Nido

(Sage)

"ARE YOU OKAY?"

I opened my eyes and promptly screamed bloody murder. Of course, I think most sane human beings would if they woke up to what I had just woken up to. There, staring me right in the face, was a giant metal mask-helmet with a loud, booming voice to go with it. Unfortunately, the masked figure decided to scream as well, and THIS scream was so loud I thought I was going to go deaf.

A few moments later, the other screaming stopped and I could hear someone scolding someone else over the loud ringing in my ears. I placed my hands over my poor, hurting ears and sat up, groaning as every muscle in my body complained about the simple task I had just put it to. No, I did not feel and yes, I wanted to lie back down and sleep for a few more days.

Prior to being awoken by metal head, I had been spending a nice, quiet afternoon by myself (save the cats, but they were napping in the house). My parents and my grandfather were visiting some friends a few towns and my sisters had decided it was a good time to go out on a "girls' day out". There were no scheduled classes that day and I had no other plans. So, deciding it would be more productive of me to practice with my sword in the dojo.

But not even five minutes into my workout the shadows came.

And now I was in a strange room with metal head getting yelled at.

I sat up and looked around. Wherever I was, it was owned by someone with a decent amount of money (or was an INCREDIBLE bargain hunter)- everything looked like it was the best of quality, right from the creamy peach walls to the lush red carpets. There was a crystal light fixture on the ceiling that twinkled in my eyes like the stars in the sky, the slight tinkling seeming to laugh in an almost carefree way. I had been lying on a red shrink's couch. I motioned to stand, and immediately regretted that decision. My head was spinning and my legs buckled out from under me, sending me back down onto the furniture.

The arguing had ceased. The man in the metal helmet, I saw, was a mountain of muscle and some sort of war gear, who was now heading out of the door in defeat. His opponent was a much smaller man (though I suppose a football player would be smaller compared to THAT guy) in an Elvis costume pointing towards the said door. As metal head closed the door behind him, the other man shook his head. "By the Ancient Dragonians, if manners were required in being a Deva he would've never become a private- then again, never mind," the man muttered, running his hands through long violet hair.

"Um, excuse me?" I asked. "May I ask what's going on?"

The purple-haired Elvis man looked over at me. "Ah. You're awake. Good," he said. He sauntered over to me with his arms crossed and a half skeptical look in his eyes. Once he reached me, he bent down to look at me straight in the eyes. "What's your name, junior?"

"Sage Date."

"Sage Date, huh?" said the man. "Where're you from?"

"Japan," I answered. "And please, just call me 'Sage'."

The man looked at me oddly. "Japan? Where's that?"

I blinked. "You've never heard of Japan?" I asked.

"Nope. Where's it near?"

I sighed. "Well. . . it's part of Asia-"

"Never heard of Asia, either."

I paled. "Uh, may I ask where I am?"

"Viper Manor, on the main island of the El Nido Archipelago. But let me guess- you've never heard of it, have you?" he asked. I closed my eyes, thought, and shook my head. "Huh." I opened my eyes again to see the man walking back and fourth, a gloved hand scratching his chin. "So I've never heard of your home, and you've never heard of mine. From the sounds of it there Japan and Asia places are pretty big deals where you come from, and if they were big deals I would've heard of 'em."

I sat quietly and nodded. "May I ask who you are?"  
The man laughed. "You're definitely not from around here, then," he said. The man held out a hand to me, which I shook. "The name's Karsh. I'm one of the Four Devas of the Acacia Dragoons, and as I Deva I'd like to welcome you to Fire Dragon Isle on behalf of the Dragoons."

I smiled. "Um, thank you."

"Ah, no need to-"

"EEEEEEEEE!"

"AAAAAAAAAAHH!"

"HOLY SON OF A-"

I sprung to my feet from instinct and surprise. "What was that?"  
Karsh shrugged. "Nothing- sounds like someone caught Dario and Riddel in the act AGAIN," he said, also managing to mumble something incoherent about "inconsiderate newlyweds". I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Uh. . . I'll explain it to you later. That's not exactly the top of your list of concerns right now- right now we should get you changed into something more suitable and try to figure out exactly how you got here."

I looked around uneasily. "Um. . ."

Karsh escorted me to what I guessed was his sleeping quarters. He had me sit on his bed while he began to look through a closet for something for me to change into. After I had looked around the very elegantly decorated room (and it WAS quite nice- the wood was well polished and the lighting fixtures were some of the best I'd ever seen), I started to ask some questions.

"Why are you being so nice to me? You obviously think I come from some other world, so wouldn't you be better off throwing me in some sort of a prison? Not that I want you to do that, but. . . I'm just a little surprised at your hospitality," I said. "Thank you for it, by the way."

"Not a problem. And this isn't the first time I've seen a case like yours," Karsh said, tossing me a pair of pants. "Put these on- it's a private uniform, so you'll blend in well with the rest of them. Now, let's see about getting you a shirt and telling you what happened last year."

"What happened last year?" I asked as I stripped out of my jeans (Karsh had his back turned so I wasn't feeling overly embarrassed about my not quite decent state). "And what do you mean by 'privates'? Like privates in an army or something?" Karsh nodded his head without turning it.

"Yeah. The Dragoons are the local law enforcement around here. In fact, that's a good place to start," he said. "As I said, the Dragoons are, basically, El Nido's government and first and last defense against invaders. In recent years, the Porre Republic has been taking over the other countries in the world- last time I checked they had control over what used to be Guardia and Choras. They had Medina but the people rebelled and won their freedom back. Anyways, the Porres have had their eyes on El Nido for a very long time. We're bursting at the seams with natural resources and some absolutely beautiful landscapes that the damn Porres want for their own purposes."

I nodded. "So you had to defend against them."

"Yes. At the time General Viper- the leader of this nation and the army- was trying frantically to figure out a way to stop the Porres. He was eventually approached by a demi-human named Lynx and his assistant, a harlequin named Harle. Lynx was some sort of an officer in the Porre army, but he made some proposals to the General about an artifact known as the Frozen Flame."

"Demi human? Frozen Flame?"

"A demi-human is basically a half human, half animal. The Frozen Flame was supposed to be able to grant wishes and, aside from the legendary Rainbow Shell- the greatest forging material ever discovered- was the most sought after treasure in the world. Lynx believed it was possibly here in El Nido in an area known as the Sea of Eden or the Dead Sea. All we needed was the Dragon Tear and the ghost of a boy who'd died ten years earlier."

I nodded. "Go on."

"Shirt first, then story," he said, throwing a shirt at me. "The Dragon Tear was an artifact kept in the floating town of Guldove. Lynx manipulated Orcha, the chef here at Viper Manor, to steal it by using some sort of a weird seed that makes him go crazy at the sound of a bell. The boy, however, was going to be a little more difficult. Viper sent me and two lower ranking Dragoons, the Shaker Brothers, to find him."

"Did you?"

Karsh passed me some other "finishing touches" such as boots and some light-weight armor. "We sure did- trouble was he looked a little old to be the ghost of a seven year old boy. Looked more like a seventeen year old to me. Poor Serge didn't know what the hell was going on. Things looked pretty bad for him until a spunky little thief by the name of Kid decided to intervene. Sad to say the two of them taught the three of us a lesson we remembered all the way back home."

"But how could he be a ghost if he was physically that much older?" I asked.

"That's just it- he wasn't. Serge was from a whole different reality. An alternate El Nido that was much worse off than our El Nido. Yet he was still alive in that world. By means of a worm hole on Opassa Beach he got here. Poor guy didn't have a clue what was going on 'cept that everyone was after him," he said. "Turns out Lynx was only using the General's power to go after something else much more dangerous that, in the end, nearly destroyed the entire world."

"What could have been that dangerous?" I asked.

"A city from the future that held a super computer named FATE. The idiot merged with it and put Kid into a coma. This didn't sit well with Serge and some other people he'd befriend during his journey so they destroyed him. But THAT was a mistake- FATE was the only thing keeping something MUCH worse from taking hold of El Nido- six really pissed off dragons and a seventh not-so-willing dragon merged into one and nearly killed us all," he said. Karsh sighed. "There's a LOT more to it, but since then the worlds have merged into one."

I sat quietly as I absorbed the long, bizarre tale I'd just been told. Karsh shrugged. "You get used to it after a while, though I'll admit that I didn't think this would happen again," he said. Karsh sat next to me and placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about it- you might need to get your hands a little dirty, but we'll make sure you get home."

"Where there's a will, there's a-"

"HELP!"

Karsh and I didn't need to think twice about getting out of the room and trying to find the source of the scream. Karsh led me a few rooms down the hallway and threw a door open. Not even two seconds later he screamed and ran full force inside. I skidded to a stop just outside the door and looked in.

The room was what appeared to be a young girl's bedroom- there were stuffed animals on the bed and some hair things on a dresser. And almost everything was pink and pale blue. But there was no little girl in the room. There were, however, two unconscious men on the floor. One of them was dressed very strangely in red and black, his hair dyed to match. A broken guitar was at his side and a small trickle of blood was running down his forehead. The other was dressed in a more armored version of what I was wearing lying belly down on the floor, a silver sword laying a few inches from his outstretched hand.

Karsh was distraught. "By the Ancient Dragonians!" he cried out, cradling the armored of the two in his arms. His red eyes were beginning to tear from shear panic as he began to desperately scream for the young man to wake up. "Glenn! GLENN! Speak to me!"

Thinking quickly, I extended my hand and reached out with my armor's healing powers. I felt the auras of the three people in the room. All three were breathing, but the guitarist was in worse shape with a slightly concussion. I knelt down by the oddly dressed musician and pressed my hand to his head and closed my eyes.

"What are you doing?" Karsh asked.

"Healing him," I said. "I'll get to your other friend next- go get help."

Though I felt a bit odd ordering around a man I'd just barely met, I was happy to see Karsh complied without question. Concentrating, I felt my hand begin to get warm. I could feel the injury beginning to heal itself as the concussion slowly but surely faded to little more than a bump to the head. The guitarist would be fine.

Now to the swordsman (who was apparently named Glenn). I looked him over, the worst of his injuries appearing to be a huge x-mark on one side of his face. On a second glance, however, I realized the mark was very old and too set in for me to fix. Ignoring the mark, I placed my hands on his head and began the healing process again.

Karsh returned with a tall, white haired man in a long black suit coat and a blonde man with neatly combed hair and a gun at his side. "Karsh, what the hell is going on here!" the white haired man demanded. The blonde man with them also had a concerned look on his face, going to examine the guitarist.

"I don't know! All I know is that we heard a scream and we found Glenn and Nikki unconscious on the floor!" said Karsh. The purple haired man was clearly panic stricken over what had happened, and with good reason to be that way. "Then Sage here told me to go get help while he healed them!"

The blonde man looked up at me. "You did?"

I nodded. "Yes, I did." I turned to Karsh. "It's my turn to tell YOU a wild story."


	4. Chapter Three

Swords and Swallows

By Dixxy

Chapter Three: A Fish Called Irenes

(Cye)

I awoke to the smell of salt water and the sound of water crashing up against the hull of a ship. I sat up, wondering where the sound was coming from. How could I get front Kento's house to a ship? I shook my head, opened my eyes, and found out how that was possible.

I was ON a ship.

The walls around me were all made of wooden planks, the steady creak of a floating ship in the background. The sole window was a porthole that showed the mighty ocean outside. Above me I could hear the sounds of men hustling about and hollering at each other in a heavy dialect that sounded almost like. . . pirate.

But how could I have been taken by pirates! There weren't any pirates in Japan!

Right?

I stood up and walked towards the port hole. Now that I had a better view, I could see that the ship was docked near a small island surrounded by trees I had never seen in my entire life. The shades of green and shapes of the leaves were all very odd looking, and I began to wonder if I was even in the Mortal Realm anymore.

My best friend and I, Kento, had gone on a hiking trip for the weekend, something we did often. Something about being alone with a good friend and nature itself was a thing that both of us loved. So, with a backpack full of nothing but the essentials and the clothes on our back, we set out.

But not even three hours into our trip we sensed something. . . wrong. Kento and I dropped our bags immediately, got back to back, and slid into fighting stances. Minutes of complete silence passed, and I was ready to brush it off as nothing. Kento, on the other hand, told me not to move. I tried to question him, but without even looking at me, he put a finger to my lips, looking out into the trees.

"The forest never sleeps- something is wrong."

And that was when everything went black.

"Oh, good, you're awake- we were worried about you."

I stopped. THAT didn't sound like a pirate. In fact, it sounded like a young woman. _Was she taken by pirates, too? Or. . . are these NOT pirates I'm hearing? Just rough edged sailors? _I turned around to see who had joined me and nearly had kittens at the sight.

Looking at me with curious, caring eyes was a mermaid. I blinked, rubbed my eyes and looked again. Yup, still a mermaid. A large blue tail took the place of where her legs should have gone and thick golden belt hung loosely around her wide hips. Her torso and face were blue, though the middle of her chest and her face were a much lighter color. Blue-green fins were on her arms and back, which I guessed were meant for speed in the water. Her wild, short blue hair was held up in a golden crown with a large red jewel in the center that glistened in the light from the porthole.

"Are you all right?" she asked, moving over to me. I watch in awe as he green tail moved her across the floor, which I hadn't thought was possible. She stopped in front of me, raising a hand to touch my cheek. She turned her head to look me in the eyes, as if trying to look into my soul.

"I'm. . . I'm. . ."

The mermaid shook her head. "Are you sure?"

I swallowed. "Well. . . um. . . could you tell me. . . ah. . . where I am?" I asked.

"Oh, that's easy- this is the S.S. Invincible, the pride of the Acacia Dragoon Navy," said the mermaid. She "stepped" backwards, looked me up and down, and giggled. "My, I've never seen clothing quite like THAT before! Are you from Zenan? Or is this some new fashion statement?"

"I. . . I'm sorry, I've never heard of Zenan or the Acacia Dragoon Navy," I said.

The mermaid stared at me with wide eyes. "You. . . haven't?"

"I'm afraid not," I said. I looked back out the port hole. "I was hiking in the woods with a friend of mine when- by the Ancient One! KENTO!" I started to panic at the thought of my best friend. I turned to the mermaid in desperation. "Where. . . where did you find me? Was there anyone else with me?"

"I'm sorry. . . you were alone," she said. I plopped onto the floor, feeling numb and dead inside. I was barely aware of the mermaid sitting beside me and putting an arm around my shoulder. "There, there. . . I'm sure your friend is all right. Fargo and his crew found you on the shore of Earth Dragon Isle- perhaps he was inland a little bit?"

"Kento. . ." I said.

The mermaid didn't say anything, opting to just sit with me and I thought over what had happened. Here I was in some foreign land (an army and a country I haven't heard of, a mermaid, AND the shadows that had attacked us? I'd say that was enough to convince me!) without my best friend and without a clue. Was Kento all right? Where was he? And why were we here?

_It couldn't be the Dynasty,_ I mused. _If it was the Dynasty, then we wouldn't been able to sense that. It was just. . . something else. But what could it have been? And why did it go after us?_ Another thought entered my head. _Did it go after Ryo, Rowen, and Sage, too? Or was it just me? This is confusing. . ._

"Have you eaten recently?"

I snapped out of the trance I'd put myself into and looked at the mermaid. "Huh?"

"Are you hungry? I understand you're upset but you shouldn't starve yourself."

As if on cue, my stomach began to rumble. I looked up at the mermaid with a weak smile. "I guess I could go for something to eat. But, may I ask you something first?" The mermaid nodded as I stood up. I extended a hand to help her to her, uh, fin. "May I ask what your name is?"

"Irenes."

Irenes made a good tour guide. She led me through the S.S. Invincible, which she said had, at one point, been a pirate ship. Irenes paused the tour briefly as we leaned against the railing of the ship and looked out at the island she called "Hermit's Hideaway". "Most of the pirates, however, have joined the Dragoons under General Viper, the leader of El Nido, the chain of islands we're in. Have you heard of El Nido?"

I shook my head. "I'm afraid not- I'm not even sure if I'm from this dimension."

Irenes sighed. "That wouldn't surprise me," she said. "You see, Cye dear, there was an incident similar to your case from last year." I raised an eyebrow in curiosity and turned my full attention to my new friend. Irenes looked down at the water below, and began to tell me a long, complex story about how her world had once been two worlds. I listened intently, trying to decide how I felt about what she was telling me, and, perhaps, WHY she was telling me this.

Once she finished her story, silence reigned for a minute or so. I decided to break it with the inquiries I had in mind. "I don't mean to be little you or anything, Irenes, but you just met me- why are you telling me something this big and important? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like only a select few know about this."

"You're right about that," said Irenes. "Serge was able to recruit forty-four other people into helping, myself included." My eyes widened at the mention of the number. Irenes shrugged. "Not everyone was involved with the more serious aspects of that situation- I helped out when we saved Marburle, but I didn't fight too often after that. There are a few others who recall what happened, but that's just a small handful of people. I'm telling YOU this story because this is similar- you come from another dimension. A completely different world that's NOTHING like what we have here in El Nido. At least Serge found himself in a similar setting- he knew his way around well enough to do what he had to do. YOU don't even know what Zenan is, and that's something most people have heard of!" She cleared her throat. "But you seem to be taking this fairly calmly. Are you used to this sort of thing?"  
I shook my head. "Not exactly this, but I'm used to odd happenings," I said. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my armor orbe. I showed it to Irenes and watched as she was mesmerized by the shiny orbe. "Believe it or not, this tiny marble contains an incredible amount of magical power."

Irenes squinted and leaned forward to get a closer look. "How?"

I pocketed my armor orbe. "My world has a sort of sister dimension- a Nether Realm. It's a whole world filled with demons, evil sorceress, ghosts, and all sorts of creepy things. A very powerful demon named Talpa invaded my world around a thousand years ago to try and take it over with the use of a very powerful armor. A man named the Ancient One was able to stop him, but when Talpa was sent back to the Nether Realm, the armor remained. The Ancient One split it into nine armors, five for each element and four for each season."

Irenes blinked. "I don't get it."

"Well, the five natural elements- fire, light, water, earth, and air- and the four seasons- spring, summer, fall, and winter," I explained. "Why? Do you have other names or systems for these things?" Irenes nodded. I blushed. "Oh. I apologize." Irenes shook her head, told me it wasn't an issue, and urged me to continue. "Well, the four seasonal armors and their bearers were brought under the control of Talpa some four, five hundred years ago- he gave them immortality and all but one is still alive."

"But if they were immortal-"

"He did something that drained his life energy away- even with immortality, no one could have survived it," I said. I sighed. "The remaining five armors were named the Ronin armors. The orbe I showed you is connected to one of the armors, and I can use the orbe to don the armor if someone tries to attack my world. I defend it with the help of my friends." I sighed. "Kento is one of the other armor bearers of this generation. Well, at least for the Ronin Warriors. The Dark Warlords- those are the guys with the seasonal armors- they've been around long enough to see several different bearers of the Ronin armors."

Irenes shook her head. "That's quite sad."

I shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I never- ARGHH!"

"CYE!"

I fell to my knees, grasping my chest and breathing heavily. My head and heart were pounding at a rapid pace and I could feel my body heat rise drastically. My palms were sweating, my mouth went dry, and I had a sudden urge to throw up. _Oh my God, I'm gonna die!_ My symptoms began to increase in intensity. The beats were pulsating to a point that I thought I was either going to rupture an artery or have a heart attack. My body felt like it was being cooked alive, and my vision was swirling around from the nausea. In the background I could hear Irenes' voice screaming at me, but I couldn't answer her.

Not able to take it anymore, I passed out.

_Please. . . help me. . . I, like, can't get out! HELP ME!_

"Cye! Please, wake up!"

"Irenes, I think the landlubber is waking."

I groaned, vaguely aware that I was lying on something soft. I wiggled my fingers, gripping the soft sheets underneath me. I started to move, only to feel a hand push me back down. I opened my eyes and saw a middle aged man with dark hair staring me down. He took a drag off a cigar and narrowed his sharp blue eyes at me. "Irenes, what happened?"  
"Fargo, he just started to. . . I don't know! But he collapsed in a fit of pain!"

"The voice. . ." I said. "There. . . there was a voice."

The dark haired man, apparently named Fargo, muttered something under his breath. "Young man- Cye, is it?- get some rest. Yer only goin' to get yerself sicker by ranting on about a voice. Ye must've come down with some sort of a virus and we'd best get ye to Guldove so Doc can take a look at you."

I sighed and laid back down, nodding. "All right. But. . ."

"What did the voice sound like?" Irenes asked. I noticed for the first time since I'd awoken that she was sitting on the bed next to me. She put one of her hands on my forehead and looked at me with concern. "If you're from a different world as it is, then perhaps this isn't the disease Fargo thinks it is."

I scrunched my face up in thought. "It was the voice of a little girl asking for help."

Fargo raised an eyebrow, taking another drag off of the cigar. "Little girl?"

"Yeah. I didn't see her, but I could hear her loud and clear. She seemed informal."

"How so?" asked Irenes.

"Well, she added a 'like' into the phrase," I said.

Fargo's tanned face turned white. "How do you mean that?"

I sat up and leaned against the headboard. "Well, in my world we call it 'valley girl' talk. Valley girls use the words 'like' and 'whatever' a lot. If I remember. . . she said 'please help me, I, like, can't get out, help me'." My eyes widened. "Do you know someone who speaks like that?"

Fargo fell onto a nearby chair, now all but sucking the tobacco out of his cigar. He had a nervous, pale look on his face as he stared out into space. "Marcy. . . my girl. . . my little girl. . ." he repeated over and over. Then, he shook his head and snuffed the cigar under his boot. "Never mind that. Now that I know my guest is dreaming about my kid crying out for help we're going to Viper Manor."

I brought my knees up to my chest. "I. . . I'm sorry. . . I don't know why. . ."

Irenes shook her head, placing her hand on my shoulder. Her eyes were much more serious looking, but still rather sympathetic towards me. "I'm sure this isn't your fault, but something weird is going on. Another dimensional crisis, a sick spell, and this crisis can't amount to anything good."

"But what's going on?" I asked.

Fargo looked outside one of the portholes. "Even the sea seems uneasy." He stood up, grabbed a cigar out of a cigar box, and lit it again. "She seems rather uneasy today. Not violet, but uneasy. Usually she's so calm and serene- but now she's restless. But what's the force behind it?"

"Let's get to Guldove, Fargo. We could ask Steena about these happenings and get treatment for Cye here," said Irenes. She tried her best to look optimistic as she began to advise Fargo. "If you're worried about Marcy, send a boat to Viper Manor, or hire off Korcha to make a trip to Termina if he's home."

"Right. . ." he said. But he still looked uneasy.


	5. Chapter Four

Swords and Swallows

By Dixxy

Chapter Four: Why Me?

(Kento)

To say the least, I, Kento Rei Fuang, was NOT a happy camper.

For one thing, I didn't know where the hell I was. Which is something I'm not too fond of. I like having control over a situation, and not knowing where you are definitely doesn't apply to having control over a situation. So there was one problem right there. And an understandably BAD problem at that, though I've been in worse situations.

Second, I didn't know where the hell Cye, my best friend was. One minute Cye and I are hiking in the woods, then everything goes dead silent. Not a good sign, which I pointed out to Cye- the forest never sleeps. It's probably my armor that connects me so intimately with the earth and the natural world, more so than the others Ronins.

Not to say the other Ronins AREN'T connected with nature. Ryo loves the wilderness, too- it's in his blood. Before his father passed away, he lived in a small mountain cabin in the woods. It never took much to get that guy to go outside and run around. It wouldn't surprise me if Ryo just took off one day to be one with the animals. But Ryo can't feel the animals, except for maybe White Blaze. His senses revolve more around fire and volcanoes- both of them aspects of nature, but not the forest itself.

Cye? He'll hike with me, but he's connected to another part of nature. I'm in tune with the balance of the Earth and the creatures on land- but Cye loves the sea like no one else I know. Any chance he gets to be near the ocean, he'll take it without hesitation. And he'll spend hours apon hours in the water if you let him. Sometimes I wonder if he'll even skip a meal to stay in the water he loves so much.

Sage and Rowen? They like the outdoors, too, but their passions lie in a bit of a different direction- the sky. Sage's element is light with a little bit of weather thrown in- that guy gets up early every freaking morning to watch the sunrise without fail, unless he's really sick or was out REALLY late. As for weather, well, while we were all still at Mia's, Sage liked to sit by the windowsill and stare out at the sky whenever there was thunder and lightening.

Rowen loves the night sky. The stars, the moon, comets. . . he loves it all. Rowen is unquestionably a night owl- if he has it his way he'll be in bed around two in the morning and up sometime after one in the afternoon. No questions asked. That's the way he likes it, but unfortunately the world doesn't always work that way. Rowen wants to live in the night while the world demands him during the day.

That aside, the shadows swallowed Cye and I up, and now I couldn't find him.

Wherever I was, I was in a large circular room with a pedestal in the middle and a huge wall mural depicting was looked like some oddball form of evolution from dinosaur people to prehistoric man. There were also six glowing dragon statues, each of which glowed a different color- white, blue, green, black, red, and yellow. A ring of light surrounded each dragon and the pedestal, solid lines connecting each dragon to the pedestal. Beyond confused, I wobbled my way toward the door.

Outside, I saw no exit- just a short path a circular balcony with a pattern similar to the one inside the room I'd awoken in. Deciding that I wasn't going to find Cye standing around there, I realized I needed to plan my escape. Cautiously, I got close to the guardrail, where I looked down to see what I was above and if I could find some sort of a ladder or rope.

I regretted the decision to look down almost immediately.

You see. . . there was a building beneath the structure I was in. But there was nothing connecting my structure to the building. Or to the rock walls surround the building. That was when I realized that not only was I lost, alone, and in a strange building, but I was lost, alone, and in a strange FLOATING building.

I screamed, stumbling backwards from the edge towards the circular balcony. Unceremoniously, I fell flat on my ass, my body skidding across the plane until I crashed into the opposite guardrail. I saw stars as my head began to spin. Clumsily, I reached up to grasp the wall and pulled myself to my feet. I staggered back towards the dragon room, only to stop once I reached the middle, doubling over to rest against my knees and catch my breath.

"I gotta get out of here," I said aloud.

My wish was granted.

Before I knew what was happening, I felt my body pass through the floor. Now that I was officially scared stiff, I didn't move a muscle as my decent towards the building continued. The only thing I could think of was that my body was going to be splattered on the domed roof and no one would ever know what happened to me.

But, just as I had gone through the floor of the balcony, I passed through the roof.

Gracefully, as if I had just taken a step off a stair, I was standing in a large, labyrinth like-room with another seven-ringed circle. I looked up and saw solid stone above my head and all around me. I swore aloud, amazed at what was going on. "Where am I?" I asked in amazement.

"WATCH OUT!"

Before I could react, a large purple bat flew past my head. I yelped and dove to the ground as the creature passed over again, snapping its jaws and going for my throat. Doing what any sane person in my situation would do, I screamed like a little girl and backed away as far as I could, right into another person.

"You moron! Get out of the way! We could get killed!"

I ignored the person I'd run into- I was too busy screaming.

I watched as a large, flashy boomerang whacked the creature in the head, knocking it out and down for the count. One of its wings twitched, a pool of drool was forming on the floor, and a rather large bump was on its head. I sat up, breathing heavily. "Damn," I said. "That is one freakin' huge rat with wings."

"Googhoul."

I turned my head. "Pardon?" I asked as I caught sight of the other person in the strange stone. . . place. The person I'd all but rammed into, much to my surprise, was a kid! A nerdy, skinny kid at that. He had gold-rimmed glasses that were falling off the tip of his nose, a dorky brown and red outfit with an extra dorky hat, as well as a dorky messenger bag to match. The only impressive thing about the kid was his boomerang, which was about as tall as he was and glinted with an amazing brilliance I'd never seen before. Staggering, I got to my feet and brushed off my pants. "Right- a goo-goo."

"Googhoul," he corrected. The young man stepped closer and looked at me with great interest. He adjusted his glasses, straightened his posture, and folded his arms. "Who are you, anyways? And what are you doing in a place like this? If you can't even handle one little Googhoul you should be headed home."

I was a LITTLE offended by the kid at first. Then I decided he was a little punk and glared at him. "My name is Kento, I have no clue what I'm doing here, AND THAT LITTLE FLYING FREAK OVER THERE SNUCK UP ON ME! AND I HATE BATS!" I pointed at the bat. "YOU TRY WAKING UP IN THIS FREAKY PLACE!"

"You don't have to be rude!" the boy countered. Then he froze. "What?"

I growled. "Look, I don't know where the hell I am or why-"

The boy stepped closer. "You really don't know what's going on, do you?"

"Do you?"

"No, but I can get you out of here," he said.

"Why are you helping me?" I asked.

The boy straightened his glasses again. "Because I've come to a conclusion. You have no idea where you are or why you are here, correct?" he said. I nodded, rolling my eyes. "You're yelling because you're stressed out, and that's a perfectly normal reaction for someone in an odd situation. I figure that if I help you make sense of what's going on, or at least put a few pieces of the puzzle together, you'll feel better and won't yell so much."

_Wow, that made a lot of sense,_ I mused. "Okay. Where am I?"

"Fort Dragonia," he said. He waved his arms around for emphasis. "It's the ruins of an ancient fort once commanded by the Ancient Dragonians. There's a lot of weird stuff in here left over from them, and a lot of it is magical. In fact, that might be part of how you got here, though as far as WHY you're here. . ."

I moaned. "Great. Now I'm stuck in some crazy magic ruins with killer bats."

"You're not 'stuck' in here- I told you I'd get you out of here," he said. He grabbed me by the hand and started to lead me off the platform we were standing on. "Come on- there are two more people with me, and we'd better find them before we make the motion to leave."

Not having much choice, I followed. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Van," he said. "And your name is. . . Kento?"

"Er. . . yeah," I said. Van stopped at the bottom of a staircase we'd just descended, looked around for a few seconds, and then took a turn. I followed, my arms folded as I tried to think of some more questions to ask. "So, why are you here, Van? Did you get brought here by the black stuff, too?"

Van stopped, turned to look at me, and raised an eyebrow. "Black stuff?"

"Guess not."

"I came here of my own will. Pierre and Janice- those are the people I'm with- wanted to come here for their own purposes and I followed. Pierre wants to be a hero- which, between you and me, will happen when pigs fly- and Janice wanted to find some of the monsters here to train," Van said.

"AHHHHHH!"

"What was that?" I asked.

"Pierre," said Van. He sighed and looked at me. "He probably found an Alphabat."

I shivered. "Another bat?"

"A smaller, not nearly as dangerous bat," he said. "I know a near-sighted old lady more dangerous than those things. Still. . . someone has to save him." As an afterthought, Van grumbled what I interpreted as "unfortunately". He started to go into a slight jog, holding his boomerang tight in his hand.

Deciding that I wanted to be useful, I picked up a spear lying on the ground near where I was standing. I followed Van, holding my temporary weapon in hand as I took off after him. This Pierre guy sounded like a real "winner", and I had to see this for myself.

What I saw was pretty pathetic.

Pierre looked like a Renaissance pimp decked out in light blue and purple thanks to the large, gaudy hat he was wearing. Several feet away from him there lay another flashy weapon- this time a sword- as well as an unconscious AlphaBat. Pierre was backed up against a wall, staring down a large golden robot with fists larger than this guy's entire head.

"Moi has you concerned!" Pierre said.

I stared at the man in disbelief. "Oh. My. GAWD." Van had an exasperated look on his face as he prepared to toss the boomerang at the robot (and maybe hit Pierre on the way back). I readied my spear as the boomerang hit the robot and made a loud metal clanging noise that echoed through the stone room.

"Little Van, mysterious monsieur, I have it taken care of!" Pierre said.

"Right. . . and I'm a pretty ballerina in a fluffy pink tutu," I said as the robot began to move towards me and the kid. Van leapt into the air to catch his boomerang and prepared for another strike while I charged at the robot, spinning my spear like my naginata and combining it with some kicks and punches.

Kicks and punches I would come to regret.

"OW!" I screamed as my fist connected with the hard metal of the robot. Seeing as that did nothing, I retreated and nursed my wounded fist, never taking my eyes off the large metal eyesore. After checking to make sure I was okay, Van threw the boomerang at his adversary again, then began to murmur something under his breath.

Before I could ask Van was he was doing, I noticed that he was glowing. . . green. More and more green energy surrounded him until holographic leaves appeared out of nowhere and a breeze began to blow them around. Van threw his hands forward, crying out the magic attack.

"AEROBLASTER!"

And with a strong gust of wind, Robo Dipstick was down and out.

Pierre stood, brushed off his tights, and puffed out his chest. "Ha! Take that!"

"Whoo-hoo! Van took out the Cybot!"

Van was soon brought to the ground by a slightly woman in a partial bunny costume, who was holding him a near death grip. "Jan-ice! Get offa me!" Van whined, pleading with the bunny lady to let to him. Janice shook her head, giggled, and squeezed tighter. I watched in amazement as I observed the woman and the bunny pieces.

"That. . . isn't a costume, is it?" I said in amazement.

Van and Janice looked at me in surprise – Janice had a look of pure confusion, though Van seemed somewhat sympathetic. "Relax, Janice – he doesn't know what's going on and neither do I. I found him in the teleportation room." The kid pushed the woman off and stood up, brushing himself off. Once he straightened his glasses, he sighed. "Well, the way I see it we should head to Viper Manor or Arni."

"Viper?" I asked. "Like snakes?"

"It's the symbol of the Viper family – don't worry, Viper is the leader of our country and. . . well, he's a nice guy most of them time. If not, there's always Riddel to keep him in line," said Van, laughing. "She's got her father wrapped around her little finger and he doesn't even notice."

"Will he know what's going on?" I asked.

"Not necessarily, but it's a good place to start – if you're not the only one who came here from another world, then any of our friends around the archipelago will bring them there or to Guldove," said Janice. She grinned. "And we DO have a lot of friends, by the way."

"How many?"

"Not counting us. . . about fifty or so who'll believe you," said Van. "We'll explain on the way there, but I will warn you – this is a weird one." I nodded, and the four of us began to walk and talk. "It all started a year ago when a friend of ours named Serge kept having this strange dream. . ."

* * *


	6. Chapter Five

Swords and Swallows

By Dixxy

Chapter Five: Rowen Visits Guldove

(Rowen)

All things considered, my situation wasn't all that bad. Granted I had no clue where I was, my head hurt, I was cold, and I didn't know how I ended up that way, but all things considered, a face full of naked cleavage could make ANY guy's day a whole lot better, as it had done mine.

Before I get into that, I'm Rowen Hashiba – by now you know the gist of who I am. I'm the Ronin Warrior of the Strata, I'm a genius, a night owl, and a sugar fiend. My folks are divorced but still on good terms (my mom even has a key to my dad's apartment, where I live most of the time, and vice-versa), I like reading, and my best friend is Sage Date. Blah, blah, blah. You got the idea, so let's move on to more interesting and significant things, shall we?

Now that that's cleared away, let me explain exactly what happened. Since my dad had to give a lecture at a convention, I had the apartment to myself as usual. I decided to get some reading done (the book of the day was the Kurt Vonnegut classic _Breakfast of Champions_) when I heard something moving inside the house. When I went to investigate, everything was suddenly covered in shadows.

Next thing I knew, I woke up lying in a small boat, I felt my shirt clinging to chest from sheer wetness, and I could smell fish and ocean all around, which was a smell that I've never been very fond of. Though my first thought was "boy, I haven't felt this shitty since that time Sage and I snuck into my dad's liquor cabinet", but the second was "what the hell am I doing in a boat?" I moaned from both a headache and a stomachache before someone told me to quite down. I didn't argue, but the motion of the water under the boat made me feel sicker. Had I eaten recently, the other person in the boat would have seen my last meal.

After what felt like a few hours but could have been a few minutes for all I know, the boat docked. I heard the boater speak with a woman, but I felt too sick to move. I thought I was going to die right then and there I felt so horrible. Well, maybe not die, but at least crawl up in a nice, warm bed with lots of blankets.

_I hate my life._

And then. . . I saw heaven.

Heaven being a busty blonde babe with a dress that showed more than a little cleavage. It wasn't even as if the dress was pushing up her breasts to make them look better. Oh no. Part of the front of the dress was missing, showing a bare midriff and proof that this woman did not know the meaning of the word bra. Suddenly my sensation of coldness was gone, because THIS CHICK WAS HOT!

_I stand corrected – I LOVE MY LIFE!_

"Will you marry me?"

The blonde rolled her eyes. "If it weren't for the fact Korcha tells me you're probably delirious from swallowing too much sea water, I'd shove the wrong end of a rake up where the sun doesn't shine," she said. It took a while for this to register (my mind was still a little foggy from all the water and cold), but I quickly shut up when I realized exactly what she meant. She stepped into the boat, causing it to rock back and fourth and me to groan from the motion. "Hold on, I'll have you out in a second." Gently, yet very firmly, she hefted me upright and threw one of my arms around her shoulder. I was too weak to look up, and was content to stare at the bottom of the boat as she led us out of the boat and onto a dock.

She began to help me walk somewhere, my legs barely responding, as if they had the consistency of Jell-O. I wanted to throw up, but all I could do was dry heave. Though I couldn't see her face, I could sense she genuinely felt bad for me as she led me inside of a small building.

"Dude! Orlha, what happened to this guy?"  
"Korcha said he fell from the sky and right into the water – he nearly drowned and he's pretty sick," said my carrier. Evidently, her name was Orlha. "I don't think it's life threatening, but I think he needs some attention before he develops something serious. Think you can help him?"

"Well, I suppose so. . . bring him into the infirmary."

* * *

Sometime after that, I lost consciousness. I know this because I distinctly remember waking up sometime later in a nice, warm bed with lots of blankets. I quickly noticed I had been stripped to my boxers (or at least, what I assumed were my boxers) and that I felt much better than I had.

I sat up and looked around, wondering where I had ended up. The room was by a large, picture window that showed a very tribal looking village consisting of tee-pees sitting on a network of wooden docks. About half of the people I saw looked like normal people dressed in very tribal looking apparel, while the rest looked strangely like half-animal, half-human hybrids. I raised an eyebrow at this. "Well, looks like I'm not in Kansas anymore."

"Is that whatCHA call where you come from?"

I quickly turned my head to see a shocking looking youth standing a few feet away. A punk – he had a red mohawk, several tribal body paints, a red speedo and black vest serving as his only clothing (and might I add, the speedo was in very poor taste – not that I'm a fashionable guy but he needed to put some pants on). He looked a little tough, but I got the idea he was a man of all talk and no action. Especially since he was a little on the skinny side. "No, I'm not from Kansas."

"Then why didCHA say you weren't there anymore?"

"Oh," I said. "It's an expression."

The punk sat down, placed an elbow on his knee and his chin in his palm. "Really. So when you fall out of the sky, people from your world say you aren't in this Kansas place anymore, even if you didn't come from Kansas. Is Kansas a real place? Like, a shrine to your gods or something?"

I bit my lip. "Um. . . I've heard it's a lot of flat farmland and not much else, actually," I said. "Certainly not a place where gods dwell. I'm from Japan, but I'm guessing that there's no Japan here, is there?" The kid shook his head, and I fell backwards onto my pillow. "Perfect."

"Oh, don't worry – Steena's going to see if she can straighten this mess out," said the kid. He gave me a grin. "Oh, by the way, what's your name, anyways? I'm Korcha – I'm the one that pulledCHA out of the water. Orlha's the one that broughtCHA here and Doc patchedCHA up."

"I'm Rowen," I said. "Who's Steena?"

"She's the leader of Guldove and the leader of the Shrine Maidens – Direa retired to Marburle and started a bingo group with some of the older demi-humans there. She's pretty good with stuff that comes from other world, but I don't think she's seen anything that doesn't come from an alternate reality before," said Korcha. He gave me a sly grin. "Just hope that she thinks highly of you and ya get to live."

I raised an eyebrow. "Alternate reality?" I asked. "Does this kind of thing happen all the time around here. . . wherever here is, anyways?" Korcha shrugged. "And while you're at it, could you fill me in as to what's going on and why I'm been brought here? I really don't have a clue."

"We had a problem with the whole alternate reality thing last year, but at least the guy knew his way around El Nido, since he was from the other El Nido. But from the way thatCHA were dressed and the way thatCHA were looking outside I guessed thatCHA come from a different world altogether," said Korcha. He sighed. "This probably is gonna be another headache."  
"This place is El Nido?" I asked.

"To be more specific, we're in Guldove, which is a PART of El Nido," said Korcha. He stood up and walked over to my bed so he could stare out the window. "We're a floating village located in a small chain of islands – if you look over there you can see Fire Dragon Isle, the biggest island in the chain and home to the only mildly big city, Termina. There's a few other islands, too, but most of them are uninhabited by anything – living or not."

I gulped. "Zombies?"

"Ghosts, ghouls, Skelly, the works," said Korcha. "Skelly isn't too bad though – his jokes can be pretty bad, but for a walking skeleton clown he can sure be the life of the party." He rolled his eyes. "Chances are, I betCHA that you'll be meeting some of my old friends, and Skelly's just the beginning."

I was a little unsettled at the idea of a skeletal clown, and hoped I wouldn't have to meet him. I'm not afraid of clowns – I'm rather fond of them, actually – but I'm not very fond of the living dead, and that included undead clowns. "Fascinating," was my best response.

No sooner had I spoke when I noticed the return of the blonde and a white haired woman dressed ornately in blue, purple, and red. The ornately dressed woman, I guessed, was Steena. As soon as she saw me, she smiled kindly. I smiled back as she sat on the edge of my bed (Korcha backed away). "You must be our drifter."

"You could say that," I said. "My name's Rowen, and you must be Steena."

"So Korcha filled you in, then," she said calmly. She held out her hand, and much to my surprise I saw my armor orbe sitting in the palm of her hand. "When Doc was getting you out of those wet clothes, he found this and showed it to me. It contains a high level of magic, but it doesn't appear evil. Can you tell us what this is? Do not worry – I sense no evil from you and you can trust us – other worldly affairs are not foreign to us."

I nodded as I took my armor orbe. "Korcha told me you had a problem with 'alternate realities' last year," I explained quickly. Then I turned back to her more pressing question. "It's called an armor orbe," I said. "It's a little hard to explain, but I can use it to summon an armor." Steena nodded, kindly urging me to go on. Orlha and Korcha also seemed interested as another person entered the room – a man with long, blonde hair and a deep tan. I guessed that might have been Doc, but I continued with my story. "It's magic all right, and there are eight more armors similar to mine."  
"So only nine people from your world have these armors?" asked Orlha.

I nodded. "Yes. They were formed from the armor of a demon lord who tried to destroy my world a long time ago," I said. "A man called the Ancient One defeated Talpa – that was the demon – and split his armor into nine other armors to prevent Talpa from rising to power again. Now they're supposed to be used to protect my world, provided someone evil doesn't have one of the armors, since the armors aren't naturally good or evil – they're neutral, and it's the bearer of the armor who decides how its used."

"Can just anyone use these armors?" asked Korcha.

I shook my head. "No. The armors choose their bearers, and this armor chose me. It's not exactly something you want," I said. "The battles are long, tiring, and emotionally exhausting. It's an honor to be able to defend the world and all, but actually doing so isn't easy on you at all."

"Next question – why are you here?" asked Steena.

"I have no idea," I said. "One minute I was home by myself, and the next minute everything gets swallowed up by shadows and I'm here in this world." I frowned. "I was hoping you could tell me what was going on." Steena shook her head while Orlha, Korcha, and the other man shrugged.

"Do you think there's anywhere we could go to get answers?" asked Orlha.

"Well, I would suggest we head to Viper Manor," said Steena, standing up. "Most of the party from the journey last year are fairly well spread across El Nido. What if the other armor bearers ended up in El Nido as well? That would be the most logical place someone would bring Rowen's friends, and perhaps we could piece together something there."

"Right! And there's that big library there, too!" said Orlha. "I'm sure Viper would allow us in if we were trying to find out how Rowen got here! I'm sure that your presence would be welcomed if anyone has any suspicions about any others who show up anywhere in El Nido."

"Viper Manor? Viper?" I asked.

"That's the headquarters of our government and army," said Steena. "General Viper is the leader of the archipelago – he's a very kind man, but he rules with an iron fist if we're threatened by an invasion." She winked. "But I'm QUITE sure that the REAL leader of El Nido is Lady Riddel, his daughter."

I laughed nervously. "Got her old man wrapped around her pinky?"

"In a word? Yes," said Steena. She laughed. "But don't worry – Riddel's a sweetheart. She only does that whenever she thinks her father's making a mistake, not for her own personal gain. She's much more concerned with the welfare of the people of El Nido and her husband, Dario."

Orlha grunted. "YOU'RE telling ME that Riddel's concerned about Dario? Were you not anywhere in EL NIDO when Karsh, Zoah, Glenn, AND Norris came to COMPLAIN about the newlyweds and their little 'escapades' in Viper Manor? For crying out loud, I've never SEEN anyone down three pitchers and still be able to walk out of that bar on two feet!"

Steena laughed nervously. "They really should get a room."

My eyes widened. "What are they doing?" I asked nervously.

"Everywhere in Viper Manor, that's what," said Korcha. He laughed. Then, he sighed dreamily. "But some day, I hope the fair and beautiful Kid and I will be so deeply in love that we'll be able to do things like that and get away with it. But of course we'll be more discreet about it, so that way the children won't be fearful of knowing what Mommy and Daddy were doing in their youth."

"Korcha? Dude? I have a better chance of licking Karsh, calling him a weenie, and living to tell about than you have of Kid so much as letting you brush hands. She BARELY considers you an AQUAINTENCE, dude!" said Doc. "Just give it up and move on!"

"BUT I LOVE HER! I'M GOING TO MARRY HER!"

"Korcha? We've been over to this – listen to Doc, because he's right," said Orlha.

Korcha whimpered and left the room, still muttering on about "the love of his life".

"Teenagers," said Steena. "He'll be over it soon enough."

"I'm eighteen."

"He's a very immature seventeen," said Orlha.

"In the meantime, you need to blend in. I would suggest you borrow some of Doc's clothing," said Steena, gesturing to the blonde man. "From the way Orlha described your dress, his wardrobe would be most comfortable for you. It would be best if you blended in with the rest of the people here as to not arise suspicion."

"I agree," I said. "I just have one more question."

"Yes?"

"Um. . . I don't want to sound rude. . . but what's with all the people who look like animals?" I said. "Is this something normal around here, because we just have humans where I come from. They look friendly enough, but I just want to know what the deal with that is."

"I won't kick your ass because you're not from around here, but they're called demi-humans. There are also fairies – little humans with wings – and dwarves – who are short and grumpy," said Orlha. "A lot of people around here don't like demi-humans because of what they are, but here in Guldove we all live in peace together. The only other place you really find a lot of demi-humans is Marburle, which is just beginning to accept humans – and they had every right to hate us, too."

I frowned. "At least it's getting better," I said.

"But it'll never be right, dude," said Doc.

Steena cleared her throat. "Orlha, why don't you have Korcha prepare a boat? We'll take the four of us plus Rowen – if his mother or Mel wishes to accompany us let them know quickly, please," she said. Orlha nodded and left. Steena then turned to me. "I'll leave you with Doc – if you have any other questions feel free to ask him anything. He's a very knowledgeable man and a wonderful doctor."

"We'll head upstairs to my apartment – you and I are about the same size so we shouldn't have too much trouble finding something for you to wear, dude!" I nodded dumbly in agreement, obediently following Doc out of the room and up the crude flight of stairs leading to his apartment.

* * *


End file.
